It’s a breath of fresh fried mint.

We here at SoraNews24 are constantly seeking culinary oddities wherever they may appear, but sometimes we just stumble onto them too. Such a thing happened to our Japanese writer Tasuku Egawa while browsing around the Tobu Department Store in Ikebukuro, Tokyo.

Japanese department stores often have large food sections on their basement floors that sell high-end cakes and chocolates or gourmet ingredients for meals. When Tasuku headed down there he spotted an interesting sign. It was for a special mint chocolate food campaign called Atsumare! Choco Minto, which is going on now.

Minto is the Japanese pronunciation of “mint,” but for this event the “to” part was written with the kanji used to denote a political party, often preceded by “min” to make “minto” as a shorthand for “Democratic Party,” so this event roughly translates to “Gather ’round! Mint Chococratic Party.” This pun is popular among foodies as an allusion to the very divisive nature of mint chocolate in which Japanese people seem to either love or hate it in such a clear way that it could be compared to political alignments.

▼ I’ve never been so politically motivated before.

Many of the food vendors on the floor had special versions of their products adopting the great taste of mint chocolate. As expected, there was a vast array of cakes, parfaits, and milkshakes.

But as Tasuku perused the menu, something far more daring jumped out at him.

▼ “Mint Chocolate & Nuts Rich Mint Cream Croquette“

In Japanese cuisine, cream croquettes are deep-fried globs of white sauce and some kind of savory meat or vegetable like crab or pumpkin. What Hakko Kitchen Rich Cream Croquette Tokyo seems to have done with this for the Mint Chococratic Party is add mint to the sauce and toss in some bits of chocolate and nuts for texture.

Tasuku headed over to Hakko Kitchen and stared at the croquettes for a while. Sensing his disbelief the staff explained that this item sold out over the previous weekend and a TV crew even came to cover them. Not only that but they sold them at mint chocolate events in the past and there have been people waiting for them to come back.

That was enough to intrigue our writer to try one despite the steep price of 681 yen each (US$4.72). While there he also spotted a Mint Chocolate & Cream Cheese Potato Gnocchi Gratin for 1,080 yen ($7.49) and felt compelled to try that too.

He was reassured because department store food stalls are usually refined establishments that wouldn’t just sell random foods for shock value if they didn’t also taste really good. Hakko Kitchen in particular had been in this location for 60 years, so they probably knew what they were doing.

But after arriving at home and staring his Mint Chocolate & Cream Cheese Potato Gnocchi Gratin in the blue face, he began to have second thoughts about this.

He took a first scoop which had a big potato gnocchi in it and popped it in his mouth. The taste of mint chocolate was front and center while the gnocchi added some salty notes and the cream cheese kept everything grounded as a gratin dish.

Tasuku concluded that it was good for him as a solid but moderate member of the Mint Chococratic Party, but the complexity of its taste might be an issue for hardline mint chocolate fanatics as the purity of the flavor could be described as diminished or corrupted somewhat.

Next was the Mint Chocolate & Nuts Rich Mint Cream Croquette. It looked just as good as any cream croquette on the outside. Tasuku thought about how ice cream is sometimes fried in the USA, so this should work in the same way more or less.

Breaking it open, our writer was greeted with a load of nuts and liberal amount of chocolate chips. His first bite was a full blast of firm mint chocolate flavor. Unlike the complex taste of the previous item, this was the clear taste of mint chocolate through and through.

It’s certainly too bold for anyone who’s not a fan of mint chocolate, but who are we kidding? Anyone not into mint chocolate would have bailed on these croquettes a long time ago. But for those who want a fresh take on an old favorite, the Gather ’round! Mint Chococratic Party food fair will be held until 4 June.

Event information
Gather ’round! Mint Chococratic Party / あつまれ！チョコミン党
Hakko Kitchen Rich Cream Croquette Tokyo (croquettes and gratin only) / 発酵kitchen リッチクリームコロッケ東京
Tobu Department Store / 東武百貨店
Address: Tokyo-to, Toshima-ku, Ikebukuro 1-1-25
東京都豊島区西池袋1-1-25
From 22 May-4 June
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[ Read in Japanese ]